Lord, buck us up and get us going!

Good Morning Friends!  Fill me with Your word Father, Friday!  The other day while I was in the bathroom getting ready for work, Kim came behind me on the porch to get his boots on.  I could tell he was pondering something…never know with him, he is always reading and studying new ways to take care of the animals.  What mineral is best, rotational grazing with sheep and cows, what kind and how much feed is most effective for breeding and raising calves.  He isn’t stuck on doing things the same “way they have always been done.”  That’s what he was pondering….he had been having a discussion with one of our cattle-raising neighbors about some new idea he had and as usual the neighbor said, “Well, we have always done it this way…..no need to change.”  Now this isn’t the first time Kim has had a discussion like this with this neighbor and others….I have heard it before, but this time….I just couldn’t stop thinking about it….really bothers Kim that people are stuck in the same old ways of ranching that their fathers did, when they could be growing, learning, strengthening their herds…Well, it finally hit me….could I be stuck in “the same old ways” of spending time with our Father, strengthening my faith, growing in the word, serving…..doing the same things, saying the same prayers day in and day out because….. "that’s the way I have always done it.”  Yikes!!  Tell me it isn’t so……However, if I honestly look within myself, I have to admit that I very well could be in a bit of “faith growing/time with God” rut….Yep, maybe…..NO!  Not maybe!!  Definitely!!!  Time is now for me to change things up a bit….oh I will never give up my time with HIM first thing in the morning, have to have that to make it through the day, but I can spend a few more minutes reading his word, rather than watching the news, more time praising rather whining about things in my life, I can step out of my box at church and volunteer for a new to me project, I can spend more time thanking and praising rather than begging and crying,  I can look for new ways to let my light shine, out of my comfort zone……with God’s help I can….and I will Father for You!  Forgive us Father when we get complacent in our lives with You.  Buck us up and get us going….going with You, for You, learning, growing, praising, loving….loving others as You love us!

 

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and forever!  2 Peter 3:18.  Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches…apart from me you can do nothing.”  John 15:4-5.  Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  2Peter 1:6-8. (and there we have it!)  Let’s get going!

Love you all!

Our Magnificent Creator

Good Morning Friends!  Wonderfully wrapped in His loving arms, Wednesday!  Last Saturday, after a long afternoon of yucky paperwork, Mr. Johnson decided we needed to take a ride.  I agreed, grabbed a bottle of water, loaded Axel, and off we went in his cute little Suzuki Samurai that he converted into a feed truck.  We headed east and then north, back east one dirt road after another, some were pretty bumpy, others smooth, but lots of dust as we were in need of a rain.  Kim knew the area we ended up in because he had fought fires there, but it was new to me….we only saw one vehicle the whole time, just us and God’s creation….nice, the sun was shining, it was warm….just right.  As we tootled down one, new to me, road my attention was drawn to the size of the trees in a big open pasture….huge oak trees, tall, reaching up toward the sky….I knew they were very old because they were so very big around….Kim was driving real slow, so I had time to ponder their magnificence.  standing tall, strong, surviving for so many, many years….resilient….my heart leaped as I thought of if only they could talk…the stories they could tell….but there in the pasture, reaching to the heavens, I knew they were praising our Father, Creator of all….I smiled and thanked HIM for the wonder of trees and a husband that wanted to take a ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  Father, our Magnificent Creator of the heavens and the earth, thank you for each and every piece of creation, given to us.  And Father, we thank you for the precious rain You sent from heaven yesterday to water the trees, pastures, settling the dust and blessing us with clear blue skies.  All Glory, Honor, and Praise to You!

 

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation;  seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.  And it was so.  The land produced…and God saw that it was good.  Genesis 1:11-12.  You alone are the Lord.  You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.  You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.  Nehemiah 9:6.  For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.  1 Timothy 4:4.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever.  Give thanks to the God gods.  His love endures forever.  Give thanks to the Lord of lords:  His love endures forever. To Him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever, who by His understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever, who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.  Who made the great lights—His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.  Psalm 136:1-9.  By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding He set the heavens in place; His knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.  Proverbs 3:19-20.

Love you all!

Always looking out for us

Good Morning Friends!  Mighty awesome is our God, Monday!!  This morning, I needed to get some fire department paperwork to Chad, our FEMA director (he takes care of certain aspects of business for volunteer fire departments), so that he could take it to County Commissioners meeting for us.  He works right down the road from me, so it would be great if I could just stop by there on my way to my office, but he is hardly ever there yet when I go by.  Oh, he is also a resident of Lula and we take the same route to work every day, but again, I rarely ever see him on my way in.  Anyway, I figured I would call him and have him call me as soon as he got to the office and then run down there real quick…..I was happily tootling down 1600 right on time, jabbering to Kathyrn when guess what I saw!!  Yep!  There, right before my eyes was Chad, pulling up to a stop sign, preparing to turn onto 1600….woo hoo, maybe he will be there at the same time as me today!  I waved as I drove by him and then called him.  After the usual good mornings, I asked him if he was going straight to the office, to which he replied, “uh, well….I might stop somewhere.”  In other words, he was planning to stop for breakfast….I told him I had some paperwork for him to approve for the meeting….after just a short pause he said, “where are you now?”  I told him “Owl Creek….should I pull over and we can do it now?”  “Yea, I will be right there,” was his cheery reply.  Wow, I was so excited, this was the perfect solution to the top of my ‘things to do TODAY list!’  I drove a little farther until I found a safe place for both of us to pull over and watched for him to pull behind me.  Wasn’t but a few seconds and I spotted him in my rear-view mirror!  I gathered up my paper work and headed to his truck, he greeted me with a big smile as he took my paper work, and added “you look nice today” which always brightens my day!  He said he would call if he needed anything else and we both went on to work!   As I pulled out I thought….what a stroke of luck for me today!  BAM!!!!  Hit me full on….that was no luck….that was one of those, how blessed I am to be HIS child….the recipient of HIS “special little miracles”  when we least expect them, but really need them!  That’s our Father for you….always looking out for us, brightening our days, warming our nights….filling our lives with love……we just need to vigilant so we don’t miss one….And remember the next time you think you were lucky….be still and thank our Heavenly Father for the blessing of HIS special little miracles!  Father we are so blessed, forgive us when we are too busy, frantic or worried to see YOU in everything!  Bless my friends with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that yearn for YOU!

 

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.  Psalm 111:2.  The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:  “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”  Jeremiah 31:3.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.  Psalm 118:1.  Give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds.  Psalm 107-21. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:24.

Love you all!

Created in His image

Good Morning Friends!  Totally HIS Thursday!!!!  Recently, a good friend of mine has been in a real funk.  Now, this isn’t real unusual for her, but this time the funk seems to be lingering and leading her to places, in her mind, that are not good for her.  She is important to me, so this really upsets me, I just want her to feel good from the inside out.  I pray for her all the time and try to encourage and uplift her, but she is just stuck in a bad place….yesterday she told me, “I am bad.”  Wow, that hit me hard….criticizing herself to the point of saying she is bad.  I immediately told her…”NO, you are not bad, you are good!”  She replied, “I am not good.”  As I stopped to send up another prayer for her, the thought came to me……She is God’s child, a child of our Heavenly Father, HE made her…..”For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  Psalm 139: 13-14.  Wow friends, when we pick on ourselves we are criticizing our Heavenly Father….That really hurts to think that when I moan about my big nose, short legs, flabby belly I am telling our Father, He messed up…..Let’s look at it from Genesis 1:27…”So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”  How about that…..we, you and me, were created by God in His image….Shame on us for criticizing not only ourselves, but others too….shame on us….Our Father wants us to Praise HIM….HE made us because HE loves us and HE wants us to love others like we love ourselves!  So, before we start picking others or ourselves apart, let’s stop and remember where we came from and then offer up a big thank you and Praise HIM for our fantastic bodies!  Now, when I say fantastic I don’t meant that we are all in perfect shape….nope we still have a responsibility there to try and eat right and get plenty of exercise….because….”do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?....therefore honor God with our body.”  1 Corinthians 6:19.  We honor God by taking good of ourselves and helping out our friends in a funk!  Father, forgive us when we want to criticize, helps us to remember we are Yours.  Enable us to take good care of what You give us and to honor you by reaching out to others when they need a lift!

Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.  Psalm 42:11.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  Luke 6:31.  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13. 

Love you all!

The fires in our life

Good Morning Friends!  Wonderfully wrapped in HIS loving arms Wednesday!  Have you noticed the smoky skies lately?  Seen flames, heard sirens?   Seems like our weather conditions have definitely landed us right smack dab into a busy fire season!  As the wife of a volunteer fireman (a very dedicated one) I know full well what this entails….and how dangerous it can be for the firemen.  Yesterday I received a call from him about 2:30, he was full into the “going to a fire mode,” his voice serious and strong….fearless even though he was telling me, “It’s a big one, I can see the flames.”  These men and women that protect our rural areas are volunteers…..no one pays them to go into the dense smoke, hot flames, unknown terrain to put out the fire….to protect their communities from harm….these firemen do it for free because they care….rather amazing to me, makes me so proud to be a small part.  As I was driving home I could see the smoke and as I got closer to Lula I could smell it too.  I said a prayer, lifting the firemen into the loving care and protection of our Heavenly Father.  As I pulled into our driveway I felt a warm peace flow through me; I smiled from the inside out….I knew our Father had something really important to remind me of……”Kathie, there will always be fires in life…..blazing finances, smoldering relationships, flaming out of control children, stress, worry, pain, grief….fires threatening to destroy you…..But Kathie, I am here, always here, no need to call 911 and wait for the firetrucks to come….come to me….I will put out your fires, I will guide you, comfort you, hold you in My arms and fill you with My peace….come to ME, precious child I will douse out your fires….come to ME.”  Thank you Father….for loving us so much that You remind us in such special ways that You are always on call for us.  And Father, please protect our firemen and women when they head out. 

 

Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.  Psalm 30:10.  The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.  Deuteronomy 31:8.  He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress.  Proverbs 14:26. We say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?”  Hebrews 13:6.  The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.  Psalm 29:11.  Cast all your anxiety on God because He cares for you.  1 Peter 5:7.  I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.  Jeremiah 31:13. 

Love you all!

Hand out Valentines every day

Good Morning Friends!  Forever loved by HIM Friday!  Yesterday after work I had to go to Walmart to pick up a cake and  cupcakes for Cooper and Katy’s Valentine parties today.  Kathyrn has been running crazy, so I wanted to help her out just a bit.  Wow! I barely got in the door without running into a massive display of flowers, bouquets in all colors and sizes……and big signs with hearts and the word LOVE plastered all over them.  A little farther into the store were huge displays of heart-shaped cookies and  cupcakes, red, white and pink ones shouting out….LOVE.  I made my way to the bakery and got the cake….once again red hearts, love ornaments stuck in the corners, love oozing from every direction….I cautiously made my way down the Valentine “things” aisle….could have been dangerous if I wasn’t careful, but Katy wanted rings to put on her cupcakes, so I bravely forged my way…..Red, pink, white, LOVE screaming from every shelf.  I found the rings, and headed out to finish my shopping and get out of there…what a mad house.  The whole store jammed with things that are supposed to represent “love.”  Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Valentine’s Day myself, from heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast to heart-shaped meatloaf  for dinner and everything in between, but on the way home my thoughts were consumed with……well, Our Heavenly Father……LOVE…..real love…..I was drawn to 1 John 4:7-12… "Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed His love among us:  He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.  This is love:  not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also out to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.”  This is what it’s all about….REAL LOVE…..and not just HIM loving us and us loving HIM…..but we must love each other….So go ahead, have a Happy Valentine’s Day, but don’t stop there…..hand out valentines every day…we don’t need fancy boxes of candy, expensive bouquets of flowers, or heart-shaped cookies to say, “Hey, Jesus Loves you and so do I!”  Nope, a simple smile goes a long, long, way….or how about holding the door open for someone, or simply listening when you think you don’t have time, sharing the cookies from your lunch, helping a child with homework, and my favorite, a big old hug….Wow, the healing and love that can flow through a hug…. most definitely God given!  Use your imagination…..just don’t miss a chance to share because, “love is of God”  and HE wants us to be all about it.   “Keep on loving each other.”  Hebrews 13:1.  Father fill us with a love-giving spirit….always.

 

I want to leave you with a quote from Max Lucado, “No matter what you do, no matter how far you fall, no matter how ugly you become, God has a relentless, undying, unfathomable, unquenchable love from which you cannot be separated.  Ever!!!”   Real Love….love you all, have a wonderful weekend.

 

The 'Perfect Mentor'

Good Morning Friends!  Wise and Wonderful Wednesday!  My husband has been doing a small construction job with a young man in our neighborhood.  They work together quite often and David loves to tease Kim about teaching him (Kim has a life of working experience and he likes to share).  Kim said the other day as they got started, David said, “Well are you going to teach me anything today?”  Kim laughed, but went on to share some stories about the “job” things he tries to help David learn to make the job easier and more efficient.  I chuckled to myself, Kim is mentoring David. He shared how he told David to take care of his tape measure.  They were finishing up for the day and it had been kind of a damp day so Kim told David that when he got home, he needed to pull the tape measure all the way out wiping it with a try cloth and then spray it with WD-40.  David looked at him kind of funny, so Kim continued, “keeps it from rusting and locking up.”  David just shook his head, “I had to throw away 2 good tapes because they were rusted shut!”  Kim just laughed and told him “I’m just trying to help you and make things easier.”  As I listened to Kim telling me about his time with David, how he was mentoring him, helping to get the job done easier, with less problems, it hit me…..Oh my….”Yes Father, we have the ‘Perfect Mentor’…..YOU!  Like David on the job we can make things so much harder than they need to be!  If we would simply pay attention to what You tell us in Your word our job of life could be so much less stressful, we could avoid so many troubling “issues” if we would, “Cast all your anxiety on God because He cares for you.” I Peter: 5:7.  We want to just barrel in without thinking…not trusting that God has us covered if we trust in HIM….blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in HIM.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat (or sickness, or financial problems, or work) comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”  Jeremiah 17:7-8.  No worries….wouldn’t that be great…I know since we are the weak humans we are, that we will always tend to worry some, but really friends we don’t need to let our lives be consumed with worry!  Our Father, if we go to HIM, and really, really trust in HIM, we can really, really let go of the yucky stuff and let HIM guide us!  I promise, I wouldn’t steer you wrong on this, I know it’s not easy, but gosh when we do it….

"The Lord gives strength to His people (that’s us….you and me); the Lord blesses blesses HIS people with peace.  Psalm 29:11.  “Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come to you.  Job 22:21.  Really!!!  I wouldn’t steer you wrong on this….nope steering you right into HIS loving arms and PERFECT PEACE!  “May the God of Peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  2 Thessalonians 3:16. 

Love you all!